London -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Tensions between police and marauding gangs continued into Tuesday in areas of Great Britain , after violence initially sparked by the shooting death of a 29-year-old man in London spread to other parts of the nation .

The number of people arrested in London since the violence began has risen to 334 , police said Tuesday .

During the overnight hours , standoffs continued at several locations in London as police in riot gear warily watched roaming gangs often just yards away .

A bus in Ealing , West London , a bus was vandalized and set on fire , while the driver was still on board . He escaped without injury .

There was evidence of vandalism in central London , with visible damage to a number of shops .

The developments come as reports flowed in from other parts of the country that outbreaks of violence and vandalism had occurred .

In Bristol , in southwest England , police said several shops and vehicles were damaged Monday night and `` a number of main roads have been closed to allow officers to take control of what is currently a volatile situation . ''

`` Officers are urging people to avoid the city centre at this time . People already in the city centre should leave the area and go home , '' Bristol police said in a statement early Tuesday .

Street disturbances appeared to have spread to Birmingham , about 120 miles north of London , where police said `` several premises '' in the city center had been attacked `` with some shop windows smashed and property stolen in various locations . ''

A police statement issued early Tuesday said about 100 people had been arrested in Birmingham and added there were no reports of `` major injuries of member of the public or police officers as a result of the disorder . ''

Disturbances also were reported in the Liverpool area , about 180 miles northwest of London , with police there saying officers had responded to `` reports of vehicles on fire and criminal damage '' in south Liverpool .

The office of British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that Cameron would return to London Monday night , cutting short a vacation in Italy , for meetings to discuss the violence .

As disturbances and looting flared in various parts of London , an official from the London Fire Brigade told CNN : `` We are too busy now to take any calls from the media . ''

Police reported `` fires burning at a number of premises including a very large blaze at a sofa factory '' in the south London borough of Croydon .

In the Hackney area of east London , gangs attacked a police car and shops . Video showed riot police involved in skirmishes , youths destroying a police car , smashing shop windows , a sporting goods shop being looted and the window of another shop being smashed .

Police said in a statement that a crowd of between 250 and 300 people gathered , with those in the crowd throwing `` petrol bombs '' and setting cars ablaze .

In Lewisham in south London , a car was set afire . `` This is just thugs wanting to intimidate people , '' Councillor Michael Harris told the BBC . `` We 've had good community relations in Lewisham and it 's simply not justified . '' He described the people carrying out the acts as young people whose faces were covered with masks .

Several hundred people in the center of Peckham in South London threw projectiles -- stones , clay pots and bottles -- with one policeman saying , `` they raided the bottle bank , '' CNN 's Dan Rivers reported from the scene .

Large numbers of them , many with faces covered by shirts and bandannas , rushed back and forth with police -- in far fewer numbers -- standing their ground at the entrances to roads , Rivers said .

Police created a cordon around Clapham Junction , one of London 's busiest train stations , with trains unable to go to or from the station . There was no obvious sign of violence at the station but a policewoman told CNN it was not safe for people to go near the station . The policewoman did not explain why .

The violence started in the ethnically diverse , working-class suburb north of London 's center whose residents are predominantly Afro-Caribbean . Saturday 's riots occurred after the shooting death Thursday of Mark Duggan , a black man , as he was seated inside a cab .

Officers from Operation Trident -- the Metropolitan Police unit that deals with gun crime in London 's black communities -- stopped the cab during an attempted arrest and soon afterward shots were fired , the Independent Police Complaints Commission -LRB- IPCC -RRB- said . Duggan , a father of four , was fatally shot . Shooting deaths are rare in England .

The commission divulged neither who shot Duggan nor why police had stopped the cab , with the incident still under investigation .

Some reports suggested that Duggan was held down by police and shot in the head , but the IPCC has denied this .

`` Speculation that Mark Duggan was ` assassinated ' in an execution style involving a number of shots to the head are categorically untrue , '' the IPCC said in a statement .

A British police watchdog group said evidence from Thursday 's shooting scene , including a nonpolice firearm , was to undergo forensic testing .

The man 's family and friends , who blamed police for the death , gathered Saturday night outside the Tottenham police station to protest .

The protest began peacefully but soon devolved into riots as demonstrators -- whose numbers included whites and blacks -- tossed petrol bombs , looted stores and burned police cars .

The unrest prompted Home Secretary Theresa May to cut short her summer vacation and return Monday afternoon to London .

In all , 35 police officers have been injured since the violence broke out , Metropolitan Police said .

On Monday morning , residents in the South London neighborhood of Brixton awoke to see the aftermath of Sunday night 's sporadic shooting in the commercial center . A KFC 's windows were smashed , a Foot Locker store was burned , and the main street was closed as police investigators combed through the area looking for evidence .

Police said they were reviewing closed-circuit television footage in an attempt to identify looters .

Looting also occurred in pockets of Enfield , next to Tottenham , in north London .

`` The scenes of violence and destruction over the weekend are utterly appalling , '' said London Mayor Boris Johnson , in a statement . `` People have lost their homes , businesses and livelihoods through mindless violence . I understand the need for urgent answers into the shooting incident that resulted in the death of a young local man , and I 've sought reassurances that the IPCC are doing exactly that . But let 's be clear these acts of sheer criminality across London are nothing to do with this incident and must stop now . ''

A representative of Johnson said Monday evening that he was cutting short his family holiday in North America to return to London .

Police said the rioting and looting in other parts of the capital were `` copycat '' events conducted by opportunists and criminals .

`` This is not about the black community and the police , it 's about young people and the police , '' said Shaun Bailey , a youth worker , in a statement circulated by the mayor 's office . `` And let 's not beat around the bush and pretend this is some type of social justice protest -- it 's sheer criminality . ''

The specter that such violence could arise had been a concern to David Lammy long before the weekend . The Labour MP for Tottenham told a reporter in March that Tottenham could become a scene of violence as cuts to social-service programs for youths were implemented .

`` It 's heartbreaking , '' he told the Tottenham & Wood Green Journal . `` I 'm really worried that the social experiment that we 're seeing from the Tory-led coalition will lead to scenes akin to something that we see in some of the inner-city areas of America and that 's why we need to bring this government down . ''

But the leader of Enfield Council , Doug Taylor , was unmoved . `` There can be no justification for the violence and the looting , '' the Labour Party member told a reporter .

Deputy Prime Minister Nicholas Clegg called the rioters `` opportunists -- cynical folks who are indulging in smash-and-grab criminality . ''

Police say they have evidence that some of the rioting was coordinated using social media , including Twitter .

Tottenham was the site of riots before . In 1985 Floyd Jarrett , who was of Afro-Caribbean origin , was stopped by police near the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham on suspicion of driving with a forged tax disc , a document all British vehicles must carry .

A few hours later , officers raided the nearby home of his mother , who collapsed and died during the raid . Rioting erupted shortly afterwards . Like the current violence , a protest outside Tottenham Police Station sparked the 1985 conflict .

CNN 's Dan Rivers , Annabel Archer , Phil Black , David Wilkinson , Atika Shubert , Bryony Jones , Erin McLaughlin , Bharati Naik , Aliza Kassim and David Wilkinson contributed to this report .

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NEW : Bristol police tell citizens to stay away from `` a volatile situation '' in the city

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NEW : A bus is attacked and vandalized in Ealing , West London

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Police report disturbances in the Liverpool area

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Prime minister returns to London from holiday